Volcano Listserv Messages (2004)

• Subject: memorial for Dan Shackelford
• From: Lisa Koenig
• Date: Fri, 31 Dec 2004 10:21:41 -0700

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The volcano listserv is sad to announce the passing of Dan Shackelford earlier
this year.  As Dan was not a professional volcanologist, the volcano community
at large may be unaware of his death, but his contributions to the volcano
list, as well as his spirit and enthusiasm for volcanology, have certainly been
missed.

Rick Wunderman of the Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program has
contributed an obituary for Dan, below.

Jon Fink
Lisa Koenig
Volcano Listserv moderators


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From: Rick Wunderman <rwunder@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

In appreciation of Dan Shackelford

Dan Shackelford, a dedicated amateur scientist and possibly this listserv's
most prolific contributor, passed away in his Fullerton, California apartment
this past spring.  He was single and 53 years old.

Dan adopted volcanoes as a hobby in high school.  He started by tallying
eruptive data on small index cards, but later advanced through a series of
computers to acquire and manage volcano data.

Since his high school days, Dan maintained personal correspondences with many
volcanologists about important eruptions or database questions and issues.  For
a recent example, in the Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network (vol. 29, no.
4), a correction regarding Pago volcano in Papua New Guinea came to light
because of Dan's dogged questioning.  This kind of cross checking and analysis
helped strengthen the Smithsonian's database.

Since the advent of the internet and this listserve, Dan's postings here have
typically announced volcanism, usually copying text from a news report or an
observatory announcement.  His e-mails nearly always ended with his graphical
signature line, a large, smoke-bellowing locomotive (shown at the bottom).  He
found the source materials and forwarded these announcements on his own accord,
on his own time, and usually preserving source authorship.  He was, in a sense,
a self-appointed (and unpaid) town crier of volcanism.  He clearly relished
this role of providing rapid-breaking volcano news.  With the advent of better
search engines and more observatory websites this material has become easier to
obtain; however, the service remains vital in a field where active processes
are so important.

His zeal to announce the latest events had its risks.  In a 22 September 2003
message Dan described how the virus called SVEN passed from other's machines
had ultimately caused his own to fail.  Besides making announcements, Dan also
compiled his own database, drew his own conclusions, and was unafraid to defend
them.

Although I spoke with Dan many times, I never asked him to explain why he was
so prolific at announcing new activity.  What drove him?  He was clearly
steeped in the lore of famous devastating eruptions.  I think he enjoyed the
act of getting the news first and then pondering the unstated details missing
from news reports.  In phone calls to me he frequently spoke about possible
progressions of activity and various outcomes.  He generally preferred to offer
the more extreme and dire outcomes, but such propensities are common.  Although
he enjoyed the fact that he could beat most others at gathering announced
events by skillful use of the web, I suspect that much of his sense of mission
grew out of seeing that he could fill an important need in the service of
science.  So far as I know, he never gained material profit from announcing new
activity, nor had he ever held a job as an earth scientist.  I much appreciate
his service and think the community benefited enormously from his efforts to
gather and disseminate fast-breaking news. He will be missed.

Dan grew up with well-educated parents.  His father served in WWII and went to
college on the GI Bill, settling in Southern California and working as an
engineer in the space program.  His mother had an advanced degree in design.
He is survived by his brother Lynn.

Dan's two other passions consisted of sports and science fiction; and his
apartment contained 600-700 science fiction paperbacks as well as personal
correspondences with many authors.  An avid conversationalist, Dan made his
living as a telemarketer, most recently representing the mortgage and refinance
industry.  But, he had not worked in over a year as his health had deteriorated
and he fought with both heart problems and thyroid cancer.  Still, amazingly,
he managed to continue making frequent announcements of eruptions to this
listserv. His last message to the listserv came on the morning of 28 April,
shortly before his death.




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Contributed by Rick Wunderman, Mineral Sciences Dept., Natural History
Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.